QotW: What’s your favorite JNC underdog story?

Unless you emerged from a coma this morning you know that the underdog Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl last night. It was a fantastic close game down to the final minutes. Of course, JNCs often had their own underdog stories and a lot to prove, whether in motorsports, sales, or back street antics.

While we did get one surprising pleasantly unexpected pick of the Daihatsu Charade DeTomaso, it’s no surprise that most respondents chose top sports cars of the era like the Toyota Supra and Mazda RX-7. Out of the many comments suggesting those, our favorite comment came from MicaMiata.

During with the economic boom, Japanese makers fought over each other to showcase their newfound machismo through extravagance: Toyota had its fast, overengineered Supra; Nissan with the robotic, outworldy GT-R; and even the mostly grounded Honda shot for the stars with the NSX.

But the most impressive example is the work of the scrappy little Mazda company—using the most unique engine while holding onto that last bit of the pop-up headlights, and STILL giving us the most sophisticated body design unseen since the golden ‘60s.

Mazda showed that it didn’t have to beat the big boys at their game; it simply stayed true to the driving spirit, and that’s why even today, the 3rd gen RX-7 remains my favorite 90s JNC.

Omedetou! Your comment has earned you a set of decals from the JNC Shop.